Hiker's Haven

Ti took the boys to hike up the mountain at Exploration Park. I stayed home to clean the house and even though I missed out on all the action Ti took pictures with his phone of the boys when they reached the top.

Neo & Kauasi's Anniversary- Las Vegas, NV

Last year Neo and Kauasi went to Hawaii for their anniversary. Mafileo stayed with Heleni, while we babysat Ruby Mei. This year they decided last minute to spend their anniversary here in Vegas. We checked them into the MGM Grand and kept the kids here for the first night. Mei Mei was not so fond of us this time around. Well actually I don't think it's that she didn't like us, I just think she's older and more aware of what's going on- so basically, she knew she got ditched lol. It took the kids a little bit to adjust, but eventually they did and we made it through the night-phew! We planned on going to the Mirage the next day, but it rained :( So we went (with the kids) to check out the aquarium at the Shark Reef. It was their first time and Mafileo LOVED it. I can't believe how much this kid talks. He kept calling the alligator a dinosaur, loved all the fish (for the mostpart), and was terrified of the jellyfish.
Later that night Neo and Kauasi took the kids to Walmart and came home with a new video game for the Wii. You should've seen Mote's reaction when Neo whipped it out- he's an addict already, it was a little scary! So we stayed up playing games and the next morning we took the Mataele's back to the airport to catch their flight home to Salt Lake. Me and Ti have been married for 7 years and we have yet to celebrate an anniversary. Most of the time we'll go without even noticing that our anniversary has passed. We got married Dec 21, 2002- 4 days before Christmas. We're always so tied up in the holidays that we never stop and take time to recognize our wedding anniversary. It doesn't bug either of us, but I told Ti that we should celebrate our 10th anniversary for sure. He says that we'll go out of the country for it, but don't be surprised if you find us on the strip, just 20 minutes away.

Mandalay Bay's Shark Reef- MLK Day

Today we went to the Shark Reef. I had the day off of work and the kids were off of school for the holiday. It wasn’t as cool as the Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage, but it was still nice to get out of the house and do something as a family. Sometimes I feel like I live on Las Vegas Boulevard. I’m either headed there 5 days out of the week for work, or on my days off I’m taking the family there to do an activity- not that I’m getting sick of it or anything. I just never thought I would find myself there so often. Before I started this job, the only time we would go to the strip was when we would have visitors from out of town. So when we would go- I often felt like a tourist. Now I feel like more of a local. I am grateful for my employee discounts that we’ve been able to take advantage of at the different MGM venues. If it weren’t for the great deals we have available we wouldn’t be taking the kids out as often as we have been.

Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat

Ever since I started my job I feel like all I do is work and sleep. Today I had the day off so me and Ti Tonga decided that we should spend the day doing something fun with the boys. Ti was so set on going to the Shark Reef, but I thought it would be fun to go to the Mirage since we've never been there before. After we bought our tickets for the Secret Garden I was kind of worried that the trip would turn out lame. We arrived at the first pool of dolphins and there was little action going on, but Ti spotted a second pool and as soon as we got there the kids were just in awe of how close the dolphins were to them. I think Nic was the most vocal about his excitement. He chased the dolphins up and down the pool with a huge smile on his face. I wish we could've touched them, but we weren't allowed to reach in the pool. We stayed there for a while just waving and watching the dolphins. There were 3 of them: a baby dolphin by the name of Bella, her mother, and her grandmother. I have never seen such intelligent animals before. I mean, I know that every creature can feel and express emotions, but these dolphins- it was like they could comprehend the admiration we had for them, and they were able to show us that they understood.




After playing with Bella and her family we went into The Secret Garden and got to see lots of animals. The kids were most excited to see the white tigers- they were all beautiful.

We came back out and headed downstairs to where we could see the bottom half of the pool which allowed the kids to see a different set of dolphins swim below the water. These dolphins were all males and were a lot bigger than Bella and her family- and a lot faster too.
The kids had also hoped to see the volcano show out front, but we didn't get a chance to see it because it was still light out... maybe another night.
I'm so glad we ended up going to the Mirage- way better than the Shark Reef in my opinion.